Page 46 of His Eighth Ride

Bobbie Jo’s fiery personality reared up, and she felt sparkly and electric herself as she glared at him. He stared back, a silent battle of wills, and Bobbie Jo was too tired to try to win this fight.

“Just let him take care of it,” Tarr said, breaking the tension between them before Bobbie Jo could concede. “You ladies have worked real hard today, and some of us have had a lot to deal with.” He nodded at Bobbie Jo, and she hadn’t expected someone like him—someone so talented, so rich, and so handsome—to also be so kind.

“Thank you,” she murmured. “The oven’s great, Tuck. What else is there? I can get it ready while?—”

“Nah,” he said. “Why don’t you two go sit down and rest? We’ll get it all set up for you and then leave you alone.” He gave her another smile as he moved around her and Hattie and went over to the stove.

“You’re not going to stay and eat with us?” Hattie asked.

“No, ma’am,” Tarr said in his rich baritone voice. “Cosette made all this for us too.” He reached for Bobbie Jo and then Hattie, then he gestured for them to head into the living room and leave the kitchen to the cowboys. “Really, ladies. Just rest for a few minutes. We’ll get you all served.”

Bobbie Jo looked at Hattie, who stared back at her with wonder in her expression. It tingled through Bobbie Jo too, and then she said, “All right, then. We might as well let someone take care of us for once.”

“Yeah,” Hattie said, and they moved into the living room and sat on the couch. The two cowboys got to work behind them, and Bobbie Jo couldn’t help turning to watch them over her shoulder.

Tarr pulled out a bagged salad and started looking for a bowl. Tuck washed a container of grape tomatoes and then peeled the plastic off one of mushrooms. He added them to the bowl Tarr found, and they seemed to move in perfect sync with each other.

“They’re incredible,” Hattie whispered, causing Bobbie Jo to stop staring. She hunkered down in the couch with her cabinmate as Hattie added, “Why didn’t you tell me Lawson broke up with you?”

“I just hadn’t gotten to it yet,” she whispered.

“Are you going to go out with Tucker?”

Bobbie Jo had no idea what to say. How could she be having feelings for someone else so quickly? Had she been the one cheating on Lawson?

Guilt ripped through her, and she shook her head no.

“All right,” Tuck said. “I think we’re ready.”

Bobbie Jo sprang to her feet and faced them. They had bread and butter on the counter, along with the salad, plates, utensils, and cups with ice. She had no idea how long she and Hattie had been huddling on the couch, but it hadn’t felt like too long.

Gratitude overcame all her other emotions, and Bobbie Jo went around the couch and toward Tucker. “Thank you,” she said again, her voice almost catching on itself as she spoke. She moved right into him, intending to sweep a kiss along his cheek.

To her everlasting surprise, he turned his head and her lips caught part of his. A noise of shock left her mouth; Tuck put his hand on her waist; their first kiss became undeniably horrendous and awkward.

Bobbie Jo ducked her head, pure humiliation filling her over and over and over. Her face burned. Her stomach boiled. Her heartbeat bobbed and weaved and tripped over itself.

Not only had she failed with another man, but this time, there had been witnesses. She wanted to say, “Excuse me,” in the most diplomatic, queenly voice she could and act like nothing had happened.

Instead, she met Tucker’s eyes for the briefest of moments, caught the disappointment there, and fled down the hall to her bedroom, despite his voice calling, “Bobbie Jo, wait.”

fifteen

Hunter Hammond opened the fridge, muttering, “Dip, dip, ah, there’s the dip.” He reached for the two square bowls—one with corn and bacon dip and one with triple onion dip—and picked them up.

“Dips,” he said to his wife, Molly.

“They go on the sidebar,” she said. “Where all the chips and crackers are.” She shot him a look that told him he should know this, and Hunter simply picked up the glass bowls and moved over to the sidebar.

He and Molly had hosted a New Year’s Eve party for the past few years, and he did know the dips, chips, crackers, and other finger foods went over here on this bar that stood along the wall that separated the kitchen from the hallway that led down to the bedrooms.

Molly had divided the main island into two halves: one for the taco bar and one for the ice cream sundae bar. They’d decided to allow their two oldest children to invite their friends if they wanted to, and both Ryder and Lisa had a couple of people coming.

The Whettsteins and their children were coming, as well as all the cowboys and cowgirls who lived here on the ranch.

“Condiments,” Jane said as she entered the kitchen from the front hallway, her husband right behind her. She started taking out containers of sour cream, salsa, hot sauce, and ranch dressing.

Cord carried a huge brown box with stretched-tight plastic wrap over it, and Molly said, “Right here, Cord. Thank you.”

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